UA professor featured in Baseball Hall of Fame Exhibition

A photograph of a UA professor who co-authored a book on the mysteries and myths of hitting is being featured in a Baseball Hall of Fame Exhibition.

The photograph of Terry Bahill, a professor of systems and industrial engineering, is part of a traveling exhibit, "Baseball As America," which is currently being displayed in the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

The exhibit focuses on baseball as a part of American culture and will travel to major U.S. cities between now and 2005.

Bahill co-authored the book, "Keep Your Eye on the Ball: Curve Balls, Knuckleballs, and Fallacies of Baseball," which uses physics, mathematics and physiology to explain the art of hitting.

The photograph in the exhibit is the same picture from the back of Bahill's book. It pictures him squared up with a bat, peering through strange looking goggles as a wiffle ball flies toward him.

"We selected the photo because it represents baseball as ingenuity, which is one of the main section themes," said Kristen Mueller, assistant curator for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The photograph was taken while Bahill was studying the myth that hitters can keep their eyes on the ball from the pitcher's hand to their bat, Bahill said.

The goggles seen on Bahill in the picture were used to track eye movement, he said.

Bahill has conducted other research on the physics of baseball. Members of the University of Arizona's NCAA Championship women's softball team and others have used a bat chooser Bahill designed.

The bat chooser is a device that helps players find their ideal bat weight.

Founder of development for minority programs to get award

Concerned Media Professionals and the UA Hispanic Alumni Association are honoring the UA director of development for having a career that focuses on helping people.

The two groups held a dinner and dance Friday to give John Huerta, UA director of development for minority programs, a career award.

Huerta founded the University of Arizona's development for minority programs in 1989. He has raised $1.7 million for the Hispanic Alumni scholarship endowment, which is the largest fund of its kind among all public universities.

He also oversees the Black Alumni endowment at UA, which has raised $500,000.

After graduating from UA in 1995, Huerta worked as a special assistant to the postmaster general. He mediated disputes for the Black Panthers, Brown Berets, Ku Klux Klan and Hispanic separatist groups.

When Huerta returned to Arizona in 1975, he directed the Department of Economic Security, the state's largest agency, which has an annual $500 million budget.

Huerta has helped found the Tucson International Mariachi Conference, the Hispanic Professional Action Committee, the UA Hispanic Alumni Association, the Tucson chapter of the American Israel Friendship Foundation and El Centro de las Americas.

He also assists a number of organizations including Concerned Media Professionals, Omega Delta Phi fraternity, Sigma Lambda Beta and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.

Union buffet counter to be named in honor of former employee

One of UA's favorite employees will be honored in the Student Union Memorial Center with the opening of "Betty's Buffet" in the Cactus Grill.

The buffet will honor Betty Baker, who served students in the union for 21 years before retiring in 2001 .

Baker who is remembered for her smile and "Hi sweetie" greeting spent her last six years serving breakfast at the Fiddlee Fig Restaurant in the old Memorial Student Union.

Baker was the first person to win the ROTC "Best Attitude" award and was UA Employee of the Year in 1999. About 100 students, UA employees and alumni honored her when she retired last June.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the buffet counter will be held April 2 at 3 p.m. after an introduction from University of Arizona President Peter Likins.